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I TURNED on the lights in my guest suite and ran to my backpack. The chime of a nearby grandfather clock signaled midday.
“No way,” I complained to the clock. “I must have been up all night! By now Valcas will have already found and read his daily reminder of our engagement.”
Worried that someone would soon be looking for me, I pulled the travel glasses out of my backpack. They sat in my hands, made of a shiny dark plastic, looking ordinary and unassuming, everything they were not. I’d lost track of how many days it had been since I last used them. The longer I had them, though, the more ways I found that they could be used. I’d learned how to travel and communicate with them. Enta’s message revealed another way to search with the glasses, but I wasn’t sure how to begin.
I’ve had these with me the entire time. What could be recorded inside? Were they Valcas’ recordings or Edgar’s? Why didn’t Edgar tell me about this feature? Wouldn’t that have been important? Did I have to travel back into his past again to get the answers I needed?
My eyes burned and my head ached. I was tired of looking for answers and burned out from lack of sleep. Everything I’d found just led to more questions. Sure, Valcas had his issues, but nothing explained why he’d been searching for me at the dock. I threw myself back onto the bed.
“I can’t do this anymore!”
My scream melted into my pillow along with a flood of tears.
***
THAT AFTERNOON DID not pass without a visit from Valcas. One of his servants found me still in bed. I turned her away, promising that I would meet Valcas in the hallway a few hours later, after I pulled myself together.
He greeted me in the hallway with a broad smile and open arms. We went through our usual motions of getting reacquainted. Everywhere inside of the tower had grown colder, including the hallway and the rooms that opened into the sea, the lake and the vineyard. Valcas suggested that we warm up near the fireplace in his favorite den. The room reminded me of a ski lodge with its overstuffed sofas and chairs, heavy knit blankets and fur rugs. An octagonal window hung above the mantelpiece. Through the window I could see soft white snowflakes falling against a dark sky.
I sat down on the floor near the warmth of the fireplace and looked up at the falling snow. “Does that window face the outside of the tower or outside of wherever this room is?”
Valcas placed a tray with two mugs filled with hot chocolate next to me and sat down. “It never snows outside of the tower. My mother designed the weather inside the tower to replicate the seasons of Earth. She grew attached to many things that she saw and experienced when she visited my father’s world.”
I sipped from a mug of hot chocolate and took a long look at Valcas. Our relationship was very superficial, but sometimes it felt like we were connected. There were times when I felt as if I really understood him, even though we’d grown up in very different worlds with very different backgrounds. I’d felt the most connected to him while viewing the scenes recorded in the zobascope when he was the recorder. I could see and hear everything that was recorded from Enta’s point of view, but when Valcas was recording, I felt what was happening. I felt his emotions as if they were my own. I wanted to know why.
“How much do you know about zobascopes?” I asked.
“I have firsthand knowledge of what my governess taught me and encouraged me to explore for myself. A zobascope is a very powerful tool that can record sight and sound. Have you used one?”
“Yes,” I replied patiently, knowing that he had no memory of the day when he explained what the tiny telescope was and what it could do. “But, what else does it record? I’ve noticed some things that confuse me.”
Valcas eyed me suspiciously. “As have I. What have you noticed?”
I shrugged and reached for his hand, trying to break the tension. “Well, for one thing, I’ve learned that the zobascope doesn’t record something that’s not there, something that’s not real.”
Valcas nodded and cleared his throat. “I’ve had the same result in my own experiments. Additional written research confirmed that the zobascope only records the truth.” His green eyes searched mine. He didn’t look suspicious anymore, just thoughtful. “What else have you noticed?”
“Well, when I watch scenes recorded by others, sometimes everything feels flat, like I’m watching a movie. But, there is a certain person whose recordings appear so much more lifelike. In those recordings I can actually feel the emotions of the recorder. Have you ever noticed that?”
“No.” He looked at me strangely. “However, I’ve heard of that effect happening where the recorder and the viewer have a deep bond. A deeper relationship makes it easier for the viewer to feel the recorder’s feelings as his or her own. But, Calla, as far as I know, that has only happened to couples who are in love. Were you in love with someone before you met me?” His face was a mixture of anxiety and jealousy. “Are you still in love with that person?”
“What? No. No—” I squeezed his hand, begging him to believe me. I was telling the truth. I loved being with Valcas, but I didn’t think I’d fallen in love with him or anyone else. It didn’t make any sense. Was there some type of bond between me and creepy-eyed Valcas, something that would explain how he knew who I was and where to find me?
Valcas looked at me with his bright green eyes. He pulled me closer to him and rested his cheek on mine. I sighed, thankful that he believed me, but I was also regretful because I knew I would have to leave soon. I couldn’t keep hurting him like this.
“Can we go somewhere else?” I suggested. “Maybe outside the tower for a while?”
“Of course. Do you want to go out for a ride on one of the flyers?”
“Sure, I’ll meet you in the hallway near the entrance. I need to go back to my room for something first.”
I walked quickly down the hallway to my suite. The travel glasses were on the floor next to the bed where I’d had my meltdown earlier that day. I grabbed my backpack and placed the travel glasses inside.